89
GHT
.anal,
1963
The well planned way in which Sudan Airways have recently introduced two Comet 4Cs into their fleet is typical of the methodical manner in
which the airline has developed
Airline Profile j NUMBER EIGHT IN THE SERIES
Sudan Airways
By John Seekings
>v^.
IN some circles it has become fashionable to sneer at nationalism in air transport. State control and national prestige are even blamed by quite intelligent people for the current ills of the
industry. Whatever justification there might be for this attitude, it
has had the unfortunate effect of obscuring the positive role that
State intervention can have in air transport.
This role is particularly valuable in those countries which, to
borrow Prof Rostows phrase, are "still at the take-off stage."
Such a country stands poised on the threshold of commercial and
industrial development. At this stage only its government can
command the resources needed to stimulate development, for the
workings of the cash-crop economy will not have produced the
substantial accumulations of private savings which characterize the
more mature economies of the West. Thus, in a country such as the
Republic of Sudan, it is not political dogma but hard economic facts
which have led the State to assume reponsibility for the initiation and
development of air services.
During the early stages of civil aviation in the Sudan the major
obstacle was undoubtedly the weather. As Icarus had discovered
some years before, the first intrepid aviators who ventured forth
into the Sudan were quick to discover that the sun in particular does
funny things to a flying machine. Primarily because of the weather,
it took a'most a month for Marc Pourpe—to whom goes the honour
of introducing the aeroplane to this part of Africa—to negotiate the
thousand miles of desert which lie between Cairo and Khartoum.
For the record, he reached Khartoum on January 21, 1914, having
used the same aircraft—an 80 h.p. Morane-Saulnier monoplane—
in which Roland Garros, only a few months previously, had made
his epic first flight across the Mediterranean from Frejus to Bizerta.
The diaries of later voyagers are rich with anecdotes describing
the peculiar adversities of the Sudan: the violent thunderstorms
which come in the wake of the intertropical front as it sweeps up and
down the length of the country; the turbulence which results from
the intense heat of the sun (shade temperatures of 120°F are not
uncommon by day, and in some places the mercury never drops
below 80 at night), the effect of which is exacerbated by the
prevalence of bush fires; the dust and the sand, in particular that
remarkable Sudanese phenomenon, the haboob; those awe-inspiring
swamps of the south; and last but not least, the emptiness of a
territory which covers a million square miles yet which even today
has a population of only 12m inhabitants.
Yet these obstacles did not stop the aeroplane being put to effective
use. As early as May 1916 two B.E.2c biplanes were engaged on
leaflet-dropping over Darfur in an effort to quell the pro-German
revolt led by the Sultan Ali Dinar. The first orthodox air service
began in 1929, when Imperial Airways' Calcutta flying-boats oper
ated the route from Cairo to Kisumu. By 1932 this service had been
extended to South Africa, while in 1936 Imperial Airways opened a
branch route from Khartoum to West Africa. Except for a short
lived Asmara - Khartoum service operated just before the war by
Ala Littoria, Imperial Airways continued to provide the Sudan with
its only air services during the thirties.
In the war years Khartoum became well known as a staging-post
on the supply routes linking the Middle East to West and South
Africa. And with the arrival of the landplanes and the construction
of a supporting network of airstrips across the length and breadth
of the country came the realization that civil aviation in Sudan need
no longer be restricted to external communications.
The first step was the appointment in 1945 of an Air Advisory
Board to advise the Governor on the introduction of air services. At
an early stage it was realized that outside assistance would be needed
in answering the more technical questions, so approaches were made
to various British operators. In the event, Airwork Ltd were
selected; and it is significant that their report recommended a
gradual approach. To start off, the airline was envisaged essentially
as an air-taxi service to meet the needs of the administration. For
this type of service Airwork recommended the de Havilland Dove
and four of these eight-seat aircraft were ordered.
In February 1946 the airline was formed, Airwork being re
sponsible for technical matters while Sudan Railways undertood the
commercial side. The initial proposal was for the airline to be
controlled by the general manager of Sudan Railways from his
yv:?x.s:x ::••
More than any one man,
Sayed Abdel Bagi Mohammed,
the general manager, has
been responsible for the air
line's transition from the
status of an internal air taxi
service to that of a wide-
ranging international airline
operator